Stainless Steel There is a perception, That Jesus’ conception Is the Feast on December the eighth. But such, is deception, It’s about the reception, Of her soul, stainless steel of the Faith! Hilary M. Flanery
Morning Star The silver medal which I wear Weighs not more than dragonflies, Or less, perhaps, the wings, a hair, The azure facets of their eyes Heavy weight there is in loss, The Virgin Mary and the Cross, Easy and as light as love Saint Joseph and the Spirit Dove Heavy as the wooden bar, […]
A Jubilee Year! You asked: Is Jubilee Duggar’s funeral creepy? Perhaps it’s creepy depending on whether or not it’s your fetus. Is holding the hand of your child creepy? The fact that Jubilee had passed on from Time into Eternity, means she’s a Saint. Is holding the hand of a Saint creepy? But: In a […]
Winter Morn A very pale Blue slate-gray, A puff of Powdered cloud. Glassed-limbs crackle Stiff with age Then snap – And boom quite loud. Tree trunks black In shrouds of ice – Branches split And splinter. November sleeps December wakes To the eternal Advent of winter! Hilary M. Flanery
Rejoice Sunday–Third Sunday in Advent In this time of waiting, watching The cold December grays Are decorated with anticipation — Banquets of glad tidings, the earth miraculously Greened from watercourses flowing From the stars. Mary’s sumptuous Magnificat Followed by rounds of Gaudetes on monks’ lips and Priests processing in pink colored vestments. Then comes the […]
Enduring One It can’t be called, but it must come As rain arrives when sleepers sleep And wake to hear the roaring of The river’s flood when it runs deep It can’t be named but it must speak The secret name, the unconfined Until itself reveals itself – The naming of it is not mine […]
First Encounter Mary sat down with utmost care As a burst of joy from her pure heart rose For the Child awoke from his slumbered repose Deep within her womb-kept lair. A tiny kick though a grand affair To the Virgin Mary whom the Father chose As it revealed the presence of her little Rose […]
Can Look at Me Jewel box with cover, Legs, a tail, an eye, Orange, black, discovered Too chilly to be shy Along the trail it blundered Within the darksome night, Gusts of wind and thunders Splendid in their might But turtle in her cabin Of sweet unconscious beauty Calm as any mountain Will never be […]
Wounded Healers Welcome into my wounded-ness please rest awhile! Welcome into the hidden, secret spaces sin burrowed in my soul. Welcome into places Satan’s lies have taken root leaching my self worth. Welcome into my wounded-ness, please anoint me with your healing balm! Anoint my feelings of rejection with acceptance and love. Anoint the pain […]
The River of Egypt They build a dam of sandstone blocks – Manganese washed from the rocks Turns the run a bloody brown So that the snakes and minnows drown Ferns, the pool where minnows swim A summer refuge cool and dim Red and sterile now until The engineers have flushed the fill But if […]
Christmas Let the poor have Santa Claus, Let the rich, a cruise, Let the rest have what they want But Jesus, just refuse. Hilary M. Flanery
A Splendor For RS Lou is 98 He sits beside a table with a top that shines and reflects As you were standing there, he says, I saw a figure Tall, and in a robe, and with a hood But it was you, he laughs, in your reflection on the table top Only you and […]
Prepare Sunday–Second Sunday in Advent Prepare the geography of your soul For the caller of every ewe, The shepherd of verdant proclamations: Water the wastelands of unforgiveness With torrential tears See dust turn to dew. Level the mountains of peaked pride So they become grazing fields Feeding the least and hungriest of these, All those […]
Wakes the Dead War will come again No one has abolished war And you are fit for service At home or in the field In the city street Or in the office The sweet wine of the past Gives heavy sleep and vivid dreams But the bitter cup forthcoming Wakes the very dead Pavel November […]
Mea Culpa! Mea Culpa! Mea Maxima Culpa! If I say I’m sorry, will I disappear Like the setting sun behind the mountains When it’s gone, it’s done The fiery sphere consumes no more Mountains swallowed it The highest peaks of faith and hope Glow with love reflecting Reflecting the […]
Cowbirds Cowbirds chatter, black winged clouds, Thousands, fruit that sits in branches, Flocks that wheel above in crowds If this planet were a tree And there were far and near observers Would we seem the same as these? Cowbirds chitter, wheel and curse, Descend and roost where they find room, Cowbirds of the universe In […]
We Wise-men Three The rarity of that burning star, Object of my study for days, Beckoned my soul to a journey far, Beyond my imagining gaze. Embarking with convoy twenty strong, And the sole star ever in sight, I trespassed lonely deserts long, Still unsure of my flight. Not alone was I in my cosmic […]
The Way Stand straight up and then look down, It is a long way to the ground, Big we are the upright, proud, Deep the impact, long and loud Better not to be so tall That devastating is the fall, The arch of heaven curving near That we must stoop to enter, clear The narrow […]
Alert Sunday–First Sunday in Advent Alert Sunday. The greeter has smiles on his palms as he Opens the church doors. Welcome to Advent! A shorter version of Lent in December, he quips. A chorus of coughs and women’s high Heels parading across the floor tiles Help me stay awake for 8:00 a.m. Mass. I never […]
I Saw a Baby I saw a baby at the stream, Perhaps or maybe not a dream, Who played with water, thrust his hand Into the pool, the golden sand And then scooped up a golden fish, This is my life, he said, to bless Or throw again into the pool, To swim from what […]
The Mule Purple, purple, Purple, pink, In evergreen The candles sink. Candle’s age? One thousand yeared, With four four-thousand ‘Fore He appeared. Each Sunday four In front of Yule When she arrived Upon a mule. A revolution Round the stall, Till suddenly On knees were all! Like priest incensing Hallowed altar To bear her Son […]
Come What May As the tree line on a prairie Rises on a darkened river, Human souls along the way Planted sparsely in forever Deep and welcome is that shade On a mountain stands a cross, The shadow is the flow of time, Who lies there, and who is lost If there is nowhere left […]
The Wait November ends Winter pretends She’s harsher than We think. She blows us to Mass Where ringed in green grass Are purple And one candle pink. Purple is lit We kneel then we sit The waiting has now Just begun. Four weeks we will fast ‘Till waiting is past And winter will Dress for […]
Permission The paper which I carried said that I Was qualified to board the plane and fly, But at the boarding station what I heard, Was: Monsieur would request of you a word: I tell you frankly, said and laughed Monsieur, I really don’t know what you’re doing here, You have not been so authorized […]
